Christopher Ono - Feb 10, 2009 1:45 pm (#26666 Total: 26752)
First Time Play Through: Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front - Scenario 6
"Insecurities"
I'm playing Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front for the first time because
my personal wargaming focus is on tactical-level 20th century ground
combat. Starting with Squad Leader in 1984, I've tried to find and play
games which depict the chaotic and deadly nature of modern fire combat.
I actually prefer smaller scale, squad- or individual-level games, but I
had heard enough about the Panzer Grenadier system here, at BGG and from
wargaming peers, that I thought it was time that I tried it out for
myself. I've been enjoying playing World at War: Eisenbach Gap, so I
knew that platoon-level tactical games could be fun too.
Aaron Silverman in the Panzer Grenadier series folder suggested I
cross-post this AAR for Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front Deluxe Edition
here:
First time play of the Panzer Grenadier system for both me and my
opponent, but both of us are experienced wargamers.
SETUP
We diced for side, with the high roll taking the Soviets. I drew our
favourite Communist nation, and I set up. I had a mixed bag of leaders -
only the Colonel was 1-10-1, and all the other leaders were 0-8-0s or
the 0-9-0 Captain. Despite me being able to select every other German
leader due to the "Scraping the Barrel" special scenario rule, he
managed a 2/1 leader and at least one other 1/1 (the rest were 0/0s, I
believe).
I set up the Colonel, a lieutenant, one HMG, the 82mm mortar and 6 x
platoons in the forested area in the centre around 6-0208, being careful
to be able to chain activate most of the units if necessary.
I set up a Lieutenant, 2 x platoons and a HMG on 4-1303 to cover the
right flank (north side) from the hill. Finally I positioned a Captain,
a Lieutenant a HMG and 4 x platoons in 4-1313 as an advanced position on
the left (south) side.
OPENING MOVES
I won initiative by one and pushed forward my units on the right side
onto the hill. He entered his units in a somewhat dispersed line (but
being careful to be able to chain activate leaders) in the 4-0110 to
4-0114 area. I responded by moving forward my advance force on the left.
He advanced slowly, keeping his rifle platoons in line with his HMGs. I
pushed through the forest around 4-1013 as quickly as I could with
activations, since it was clear he was concentrating on the left (south)
side of my line.
Miraculously, I was able to get my reinforced company set up on the
treeline in 4-0914 and 4-1012 before he could advance far enough. Here I
made my first mistake. Hoping to minimize leader casualties, I hung the
Captain and the Lieutenant back in 4-1013 and 4-1113. As he advanced, I
went to use artillery, and promptly realized that neither of the
officers in that forest, the two officers in the central woods, or the
single Lieutenant on the hill has LOS to his line, which was now
arranged in the 4-0513 and 4-0713 area.
I opened up with the advance company and HMG as he advanced, but aside
from a few morale checks, I wasn't doing any damage. It became apparent
that I didn't have enough firepower concentrated on the left to do any
significant damage without taking considerable fire in return (even in
the cover of woods), so I started pulling back the force, keeping the
extra companies in the centre as a reserve, and plinking him with the
mortar (set up in 6-0208) when I had LOS.
I managed to extract the force, though he did manage to catch me on a
couple of bad initiative rolls and pin two of the retreating platoons in
assault combat. One unit took a step loss. The other extracted itself
and the already step-lossed unit took a demoralizing hit as it fled from
the assault last (I figured it was better to sacrifice an already
step-lossed unit than to screen with an undamaged unit).
I pulled my advance company back on the left with no additional
casualties, though there were disruptions. He began to consolidate in
the forest around 4-1114, bringing up the HMGs that had been left behind
as he charged (one had been carefully positioned in the town in 4-0810
to threaten longer-ranged fire on any attempt to hit the right side of
his line with an early counter-attack)
I shuffled my troops around, drawing in the two platoons and the HMG on
the right (north) to the centre and rallying some of the disrupted and
demoralized units.
I was now in an odd position. Because the victory condition is "The side
that eliminates the most enemy steps by the end of play wins." - he was
now in the winning position, and just had to avoid taking another step
loss (or inflict more on me) to win.
I continued shuffling my forces. He was slow in pulling up his HMGs, so
I dashed three platoons into the forest at 6-0614 with a LT, and
assembled two more companies with the CAPT, a LT and an HMG support
platoon near 4-0411. I placed the remaining two HMGs with the Colonel in
0310.
THE COUNTER-ATTACK
I knew that if he got the HMGs up I'd have a significantly more
dangerous force to face, so I advanced the southernmost company from
6-0614 toward 4-1215 as a sort of feint. He didn't re-align his forces
in response, so, with artillery, mortar and HMGs firing in support, I
advanced two companies in the centre from 4-0411 toward 4-1212, with two
platoons and a single HMG as a reserve.
Fire from the forest essentially broke up one company, but my mortar and
artillery were also doing fair work at disrupting some of his units, so
I wheeled slightly and came at the northern end of his line at 4-1112. I
wasn't doing two badly and thanks to some lucky initiative rolls, I
actually managed to get into assault combat in 4-1112 with two full
strength platoons vs. only one of his. Unfortunately for me, he managed
to come away unscathed and his defensive fire had scattered the better
part of the first company to come under fire and disrupted two platoons
in the second. I ran the units I had originally advanced as a feint
north and then northwest along the road to try to reinforce the tiny
toehold on the forest I had made, but as my HMGs and artillery no longer
had shots (avoiding friendly fire and direct fire LOS was difficult when
you were trying to get your range two units in there) I was playing to
diminishing returns.
ENDGAME
In all of the withering defensive fire, I had lost another step on a
rifle platoon; my attack had been broken up and lost momentum. At this
point it was 1115h game time (and 1:30 AM real world time). By the time
I organized another assault, he would have brought up both the HMGs into
better firing positions (during the initial part of the counter-attack,
he had one of the HMGs out of place). My opportunity had been lost.
I conceded defeat. My usual inclination is to always play a game to the
very end, but my opponent was looking a bit tired and it was evident
that I didn't have the necessary firepower to dislodge him from the
4-1112 to 4-1116 treeline without taking more casualties again. I might
inflict some, but even if it was a one-for-one trade, I'd still come out
behind due to the losses I had taken earlier.
We shook hands. Thus ended our first game of Panzer Grenadier.
POST-GAME ANALYSIS
In retrospect, I probably should have committed more platoons to both
flanks and left the centre as a small reserve, instead of two weak
flanks and a stronger centre. In addition, the mistake of not
positioning my leaders to permit spotting for artillery fire lost me at
least three shots of an 8-strength bombardment fire, which might have
resulted in step losses, or at least disruptions as he advanced.
Since the German forces were generally longer-ranged and of higher
firepower, I should have concentrated on inflicting early losses and
then "turtled" somewhere in the forest around 6-0609. I may also have
benefited somewhat by trying to get some of the units on the south flank
dug in, to resist assault combat better.
IMPRESSIONS OF THE GAME
It seems much harder to rally in PG, though that might be a function of
the relatively poor quality forces and leadership involved. I found that
step-lossed units would often remain demoralized, even if trying to
rally with a +1 morale leader, since you have to roll LESS THAN the
modified unit morale. (5 for step-lossed morale unit, -1 for
demoralized, +1 for a leader = 5 modified unit morale, which means you
have to roll a 2, 3 or 4 to recover).
I also found that units can survive much longer than one would expect in
open terrain, but of course that's a function of the scale of the game.
I like the leadership mechanic, which lends a good command and control
feeling to the system, though since I only had one effective combat
leader, their modifiers did not have much affect on this game apart from
activations.
I also like the initiative activation mechanic of being able to have
multiple unanswered activations, which served both of us well when we
were able to swing them.
Overall I quite enjoyed the game, though I did find this particular
scenario a little slow. Despite the scenario having a fairly low counter
density and not a large variety of units to allow for an easier game, I
don't think it makes for a good introductory scenario because of the
conservative nature of the victory conditions.
I look forward to playing again soon.